Improvement in dumping-platforms



2 Sheets-:Sheet 1. F. PETELER Dumping-Platforms. No 142,724, Paten ted September 9,l873.

Inventor F. PET ELEB. Dumping-Platforms. Patented September 9 2 Sheets- Sheet 2.

[nven to)" Wit-J2 ess es per ends.

" rrnn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANCIS PETELER, OF BLOOMINGTON, MINNESOTA.

IMPROVEMENT IN DUMPING-PLATFORMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 142,724, dated September 9,1873 application filed September 3, 1872.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANCIS PETELER, of Bloomington, in the county of Hennepin, in the State of Minnesota, have made certain Improvements in the Means for Excavating Cuts in Railroads, and transporting the earth from such out, of which the following is a specification:

The object of this invention is to greatly facilitate the operation of excavating cuts in the earth, and sending away the earth from the cut; and it consists in the construction and arrangement of a movable platform, apron, and hopper, and their arrangement with a railway-track and dirt-cars working thereon.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a broken plan or top view of the hopper; Fig. 2, a longitudinal section of same; Fig. 3, a transverse section; and Fig. 4 is a view of the platform, hopper, apron, railwaytrack, and cars thereon.

A represents the framing, sides, and ends of the portable hopper. a is a longitudinal girder at top of hopper; B, the hinged double-leaved bottom of hopper that can open or be closed b b, the hinges that attach the swinging bottom to the sides of the hopper. G O are bracebrackets to support pulley c, and are attached centrally to the girder a on each of its sides. 0 is a chain going from a pivoted lever over pulley c to m, where it bifurcates, and each part, c c, is attached to separate leaves of the hinged bottom B. D is a swinging lever pivoted at d to stud d at one corner of the hopper A. E is a projecting arm at the other corner of the hopper, has a longitudinal slot, 0, of different widths in its length therein, and a notch, e, to hold the lever D in position to keep the leaves of the bottom of the hopper firmly and securely closed. F F are upright posts to support the raised platform, and have the girders or plates F on their up- F F are transverse sleepers secured upon the top of plates F, and at right angles thereto, with their outer ends F restin g upon the slopes of the cut 011 each side of the cut, and at or about the same height as the top of the plates F, and are secured together at any convenientpoint of their lengths,

as at 0. G G are the planks that rest upon the top of the sleepers and cover the entire superstructure, and form the floor of the platform.

Only a few courses of these planks are shown, the remainder being purposely left off to show the framing and railway-track and cars underneath. H, Fig. 4, shows the removable apron or approach to the hopper, one edge resting upon the sleepers of the platform, and the forward side upon the earth not yet excavated. I I represent the railway-tracks, such as patented to John N. Peteler, September 4, 1866. J is empty dirt-car on a side track, waiting to be taken up to the hopper to be filled; K, a dirt-car underneath the hopper, and just filled with dirt; and L, a loaded dirtcar moving away from the hopper.

In excavating cuts for railway-tracks it is found expensive to haul the dirt away by horseearts to where it is used to make a fill or embankment, and when temporary tracks are used for running the ordinary dirt-cars over to be filled, the earth has first to be broken down in advance of the track, so that it can be shoveled into the cars at about the grade of the track. Such mode of handling the dirt is also expensive and slow in its movement, but with the platform and hopper above described much hard labor as well as time is saved in loading the dirt into cars on the track, for when the platform is erected, the hopper placed in position, as seen in Fig. 4, with relation to the platform and the apron, all being on nearly the same level, the earth is broken down to the height of the platform, and is then, by means of scrapers worked by horses or oxen, carried to the hopper and dumped, when it is forced by any means without lifting by shovels into the hopper, and when the hopper is filled a car upon the track is placed under the hopper, when the lever D is raised from its holding-notch e in arm E, and the leaves B that form the bottom of the hopper immediately open by the weight of the earth thereon, swing apart, and the earth in. the hopper is instantly and effectually loaded into the dumping-car K, to be taken away Where needed. The teams that operate the dirtscrapers pass onto the platform over the apron on one side of the hopper, and go off on the other side, and for security a fence is raised, composed of posts f and rail f, to prevent teams-from going off the platform. The apron is placed so that its outer side is some lower than the platform, so that a descending grade from the apron may be left for the scraperteams to descend as low as the grade of the road-bed, and take the earth from the grade to the hopper. If the out is to be made by an excavator that is operated by steam or other power, this movable platform and hopper would be of great service, as all the earth would be dumped from the shovel of the excavator into the hopper, which could be filled While a loaded car was being moved from under it, and an empty car placed there to be filled. The platform is not expensive or heavy, and can be easily transported in pieces like any lumber from place to place, as wanted. The

hopper is cheap and durable, and will last a long time.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The sliding hopper A, arranged upon the girders F of the adjustable platform, with or Without the removable apron H, substantially as described, for operation in respect to conveyers J J, as set forth.

FRANCIS PETELER.

Witnesses:

R. H. J oNEs, CHAS. H. WooDs. 

